In April, Friends United Meeting organized a pastoral care trip to Friends in Palestine and Lebanon. We carried multiple stories in the enews. We reprint here the initial prayer request for guidance and protection, an account of the trip, and FUM General Secretary Kelly Kellum's prayer upon leaving.
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In these partisan and divided times, when many Americans are arguing not only about how to respond to the truth, but what truth (or Truth) even is, Friends United Meeting has been asking what it means for us to be publishers of truth in this time. The FUM staff has agreed to the following guidelines for our news stories, social media posts, and our own personal communications, whether on social media or in person.
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For years, FUM has collaborated with USAID staff to oversee grants through the ASHA (American Schools and Hospitals Abroad) Program. Both the Lugulu Friends Mission Hospital and Ramallah Friends School have benefited from this program. Currently, FUM has received a $1.4 million grant to construct an assembly hall on the lower campus of Ramallah Friends School. Construction was underway when, on 28 January 2025, we were notified that our grant is suspended for 90 days pending review. We have been working to comply with the terms of the suspension. . . Friends Lugulu Mission Hospital is another program deeply impacted by this suspension of American foreign aid...Our Comprehensive Care Clinic (CCC), supported by Catholic Charities through U.S. foreign aid, employs twenty-three dedicated staff members who provide life-saving medical services and counseling to patients diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis. The clinic also runs essential programs to mitigate malaria in the region. The enforcement of the executive order required us to cease all clinic activities and dismiss our clinic staff.
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One morning, as my knees made their way to my yoga mat where I intended to remain for the next 40 minutes, my mind immediately began formulating prayer requests and praises. I got busy about prayer. And, much to my surprise, I heard the audible voice of God respond in kind. My eyes flew open. I turned to find Him. His voice – I knew it was His – had come from the chair behind me, as if He had been seated there all along, watching from the periphery. ...
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We are the inheritors of the disciples being sent to share the love of God made known through Jesus' life, teachings, death, and resurrection. Emory Rees, a distant cousin, was one who went to Kenya in 1903. Assisted by Kenyans, he made a verbal, tribal language into a written one and translated the New Testament. Many others have been called and have responded by going as led to provide education, technical help, and medical services....
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John 15:1-4 (NIV)15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. When I read about pruning it reminds me of a time when my grandfather would send us to his coffee farm to help him prune the coffee bushes. In preparation, would sharpen the pruning saw and the pruning shears and head to the farm...
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Throughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.
